Abstract: When this research project was initiated, my advisor, Dr. David Maxwell, said to me, “Freda, good research answers one question and asks ten more.” Thus, we prepared to test our hypothesis regarding specific nuclear binding of estrogen in four organs of the laboratory rat. Based on information obtained from studies involving estrogen binding in the uterus, spleen, liver and large intestine, we hypothesized that the uterus, a well known target organ for estrogen, would have a high degree of specific nuclear binding. The large intestine, for which no evidence was found that implicated it as a target organ, would characteristically have a small amount of specific nuclear estrogen binding. The liver and spleen are two possible target organs. More substantial research has been found that implicates the liver as a target organ than has been found implicating the spleen, so we expected to find a degree of specific binding in the liver somewhat less than the uterus, but significantly greater than the large intestine. The spleen, while it is a controversial organ does not seem to be as good a candidate for a target organ as the liver--at least not at the present--so we expected specific nuclear binding to be less than the liver but still significantly greater than the large intestine.
This states the hypothesis of this paper and what we expect to see in the results. The remainder of the paper concerns itself with giving background information about estrogen and estrogen binding, with a statement of the procedure used to test the hypothesis and the results of that test.